


Injury to Insult

by AdventurousScientist (Tuiteyfruity)



Series: Mystic Woods [22]
Category: Enchanted Forest Chronicles - Patricia Wrede, Mystic Woods, Original Work
Genre: Fairy Tale Elements, Fairy Tale Parody, Fairy Tale Style, Gen, Giant/Tiny, MIND TAGS, Other, Soft Vore, accidental hard vore, giant tiny - Freeform, gianttiny, gt story, safe vore, there is a serious injury in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:08:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25150669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tuiteyfruity/pseuds/AdventurousScientist
Summary: Yonah (the “evil” giant wizard) deals with thieves on a regular basis. They are rather a nuisance but they do taste good!Almost every encounter with a thief follows a pattern: 1) Thief breaks in to the tower. 2) Yonah catches and eats the thief. 3) Yonah releases the thief and if they accept it, gives them some money for their trouble.“In Which There Are Thieves” are a collection of stories that follow that pattern, but each is unique!**Content warnings: IN EVERY STORY THE THIEF SURVIVES AND THIS IS NO EXCEPTION. BUT THE PROMPT WAS ‘YONAH INJURES THE THIEF DURING EATING PROCESS’. THIS TECHNICALLY COUNTS AS ACCIDENTAL HARD VORE! There is blood and descriptions of the wound! A big focus in this fic is on healing the thief and reconciliation.Note: this encounter takes place before Sophia comes to live with Yonah
Relationships: Yonah HaEsh/Myran The Witch
Series: Mystic Woods [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1563316
Kudos: 3





	Injury to Insult

**Author's Note:**

> This is a thief story but it's really important so im posting it outside of the normal thief stories

Thieves didn’t normally operate in the middle of the day. They simply weren’t up to it. If one was desperate enough to steal from a giant then said person probably didn’t have breakfast, and with such a good breakfast they wouldn’t be motivated by the time lunch rolled around, and they would need lunch! And after that one needed a siesta, so it would be early evening if not nighttime when one was finally ready. And let’s be honest: one needs at least a light dinner first.

Backtrack a few hours and we find our Jack. And he is waking up with a bad hangover and idea.

Jack had spent the last of his money on cheap brandy and a pitiful meal. That was last night. Now he woke up, not bright and early, with half the bottle of brandy and no food. Or money.

Ergo there was clearly only one logical course of action for a man such as him to take.

Steal from a giant. 

He had done it before. In his youth. Times were tough, not unlike now. His dad had died in a logging accident, leaving him, his mother, and sisters without a source of income. With four people the meager savings soon ran out, and his mother told him to do something about it. He tried shining shoes, but one cannot support a family on shoe shining. So his mother gently suggested he go to the Giant Fortress that was just over the hill.

His name was Jack after all, that should be enough to make this fairytale work.

Indeed it went off without a hitch. The giant’s more compassionate and gullible (but still giant) partner was there and welcomed him in, gave him the best meal he’d ever had, and then hid him away when their man-eating partner showed up after having just pillaged a town. Even after insisting that they could smell the human, they were swayed by the even more fantastic meal their partner had prepared. The giant fell asleep after eating so much and then trying to sort their most recent treasure haul.

Neither giant noticed him sneaking out with a sack full of gold and jewels.

Those were the days.

No wait. They weren’t! His sisters were terrible, his mother was worse! The lazy hag refused to get a job and made her 10 year old son go on a deadly quest! Fuck her! They didn’t even deserve the small amount of treasure he left them. He was glad he had taken most of the money and fucked off to another kingdom. Last he heard of his family… well he hadn’t.

With the money he had stolen he was able to live a good life, and didn’t need to work. It lasted years but eventually he ran out. And he had no skills. So he ended up washing dishes at the local pub; the earnings were just enough to live on. Then the dragon attacked and burned the pub down, somehow missing the oldest and most expensive barrels and bottles, which it took.

He had stolen some money from the register when the alarm sounded, and fled. It was the last of that money that he was currently drinking.

The problem was finding a giant. He was at best a week away from the Implausible Mountains, where most of the giants lived. He thought about this as he was made to leave the roadside inn. He thought about this as he walked along the road. He thought about this as he walked off the road.

At some point he was no longer under open sky, but in a forest. And he was too drunk to notice the charged magical air as he wandered deeper and deeper. That’s when he spotted it.

A footprint. A giant one. Not as large as he had expected, but there was no doubt it was giant. There must be one living nearby! He spotted a bright blue Scrub Jay in a tree nearby.

“Hey!” he called, the bird turned to look at him.

“Where can I find the giant who made this?” he said pointing.

“Aren’t you a rude human!” it squawked, but it was eyeing over the footprint and then extended a wing, “that way, not very far. Tower in the clearing.”

It had been morning when he set out, now the sun was directly above him, it’s beams cutting through the forest. Warming, and inspiring. Filling him with completely unjustified confidence.

As mentioned before, if one is planning a heist one did not attempt it during broad daylight, especially a solo job. Anyone with half a brain wouldn’t even need to be told that, it would come to the person as naturally as breathing. A one man-job necessitates sneaking, requiring shadows and darkness. While day heists required teams, planning, obfuscation, and Frank Ocean.

Fortunately for us, no one was around to mention the time of day, he had no plan, and Frank Ocean was mysteriously missing in action.

What he did have was a sense of direction. It really wasn’t long before he found the clearing the bird had spoken about.

“Ah ha!” he was very glad he had not gotten lost.

It was beautiful. Open and filled with tall grass, the tower resting on the opposite side from Jack. There was a small orchard and wild garden surrounding the tower and a stone path that led to the base. A brook babbled along the edge of the trees. But he didn’t care for the surroundings, he needed to get into the tower.

The problem was it had no doors and no windows except for one nearly 15 meters up. This struck him as odd since 15 meters is about the average height for a giant. The tower was definitely too small to be a giant’s lair. Or maybe it wasn’t! Jack hadn’t seen a giant in a long time.

Jack swore loudly. He had brought no climbing gear! He would have to brave the thorny vines that snaked up the stone.

Ooh damn, the thorns… weren’t real… Jack’s hand had slipped and instead of catching on the sharp thorns and getting sliced up, it passed through and he was able to regain his grip.

Clever giant. But not clever enough to stop him! No sir!

He clambered onto the windowsill and got his first look at the chamber within.

This time it did strike him that the room wasn’t large enough to hold a giant. It looked, large-ish, but it could be an optical illusion. And most importantly, it looked more like a sorcerer or someone like that lived here. In fact, at the desk to the left there was someone! A large man wearing some bold fashion choices was hunched over something that Jack couldn’t see. Maybe this man worked for the giant? Jack couldn’t afford to let the man know of his presence. He very silently slid down to the floor.

And landed with a thunk, his vision filled with stars. The distance to the floor had increased by a several meters and the room itself grew to match it. Including the man at the desk, who stood up and walked over picking Jack up. Holding Jack by his armpits, the now giant man looked into his eyes. Jack cowed.

“You must be the worst thief in the entire world!” the giant’s breath hit him like a breeze blowing on a campfire, “I could hear you shouting from the moment you arrived in my garden!”

“S-sorry?” Jack had no idea what to do. This giant, who was definitely smaller than he expected but was still well, giant, brought him over to the desk and sat down still holding him. Jack tried to get out of the grip but it was useless.

“You also smell foul, are you drunk? That would explain the poor execution of any sort of attempt at stealth” he continued, “and you have no gear, no weapon, no wonder you didn’t make it farther than my fucking window! By the gods you’re almost not worth eating!”

Jack didn’t answer any of the questions, he could only focus the last thing the giant had said.

“That’s right, I’m not worth eating-”

“Oh I’m still going to eat you, it would be improper not to,” the giant cut him off, laughing, “I just wanted you do know what a disappointing thief you were before I did.”

And before Jack could get another word or action in, the giant opened his mouth wide, wider than Jack would have thought possible, and shoved him in head first.

This wasn’t how this was supposed to go! He was a Jack! He had stolen from giants before, how could he have failed this time? No, he wouldn’t accept defeat this easily. But there wasn’t much he could do to the giant’s mouth, as the tongue moved around him with greed, and slowly moved him to the throat. The giant was right, he had no weapon. Well he had his hands, and he had his feet.

So he kicked, and he flailed, and while the giant seemed to struggle with this, it wasn’t enough. Reaching out his hands his fingertips brushed against something, it was some piece of flesh. He stretched out and grabbed it, and dug in with his long, unclipped nails.

*CRACK*

And everything went black.

—

Yonah choked. On fear. On blood. And on the human. As the warm, sticky iron fluid started seeping into his mouth and dripped from his lips his heart threatened to leap from his chest. His entire body went numb.

He had bitten down on the thief’s leg. And more than the blood had scared him, the sensation of the bones breaking between his teeth had shot like a spear into his brain.

In his panic he didn’t hack the thief back up but continued to swallow the now unmoving form. His brain wasn’t communicating with his body. He couldn’t even move, only swallow. It was instinctual. And he couldn’t stop himself.

With a shaking hand he reached up to his throat as the human passed down into his chest, a heavy lump. He leaned over and spat out the blood. Oh gods.

Ohgods ohgods ohgods! He started crying and his knees hit the floor. At the same time the human landed in the pit of his stomach. Still not moving. He placed a hand over his gut just to be sure. No wait. Was there some movement? It was hard to tell underneath his own raging pulse. He could smell burning, was he having a stroke?

No. wait. it was just his hair. He needed to worry about real things like making sure the human survived.

—

Everything was still dark but Jack knew he was conscious, and either in excruciating pain or no pain at all, the only thing he could identify as a physical feeling was heat, and moisture, and pressure. He didn’t even try to move as he was squeezed tightly against the soft pulsing walls.

Where was he? He couldn’t remember anything, he could barely remember his name.

And it wasn’t all blackness. Though he was surrounded on all sides by an unknown barrier, it was malleable and his tried to instinctively adjust to his surroundings. Extend an arm, move his head. Flex his legs.

Fractals and triangles and erupted psychedelically to his eyes and brain and it filled with pressure like it was going to pop! He wished he could pass out again, just so he couldn’t feel anymore. But he was granted no such reprieve as his surroundings started to get hotter and angrier. He couldn’t keep still as he was pushed every which way, and the pain only increased when he tried to resist.

—

Something was wrong.

Try as he might, Yonah couldn’t force himself to regurgitate the human. His muscles had all turned to stone and would not listen to his orders. But he couldn’t, he wouldn’t let the human die! There was only one thing left to do.

Forcing his limbs to move he got an arm to reach his face, and then into his mouth, and down his throat. Tears rolled down onto his hand and into his mouth, the taste of salt mixing with iron. He reached as far as he could reach until he was choking. Gagging. Hacking. With his other hand he held onto his stomach and was able to squeeze it with this arm as it heaved violently. It was with immense relief that the harsh pressure returned to his chest, moving higher up with each convulsion.

The first thing that entered his mouth was more blood, and he sputtered, spitting it across the floor. It seemed like more than it actually was, the fluid was mostly mucus, saliva, and other gastric juices, tainted a bright red. But it helped make him more nauseated and soon enough his airways were cut off and the human re-entered his mouth.

Yonah leaned forward and held out his hands, catching the sticky figure. The human was groaning and moving! And screaming up at him as soon as he regained his voice.

Still alive! There was no time to lose; he got up and walked over to his desk. Holding the human with on hand he folded up a handkerchief with the other, and placed the human upon it. He took a pinch of powder from a pouch on his belt, dabbed it on his tongue and whispered a few words. With a puff of grey smoke he was standing on his desk, human sized.

The human stared at him as he approached. Still very scared, but now a little confused.

“Stay back!” Jack yelled coughed and cried.

“No.”

Jack didn’t respond. He just lay there as blood soaked into the cloth.

Yonah shook his head and took out his staff from his hat and knelt beside the human, not caring that his robe pressed into the blood as well. Talking to him would waste time and the human couldn’t escape. He gently tapped the human with the staff; the pants vanished.

Yonah winced. He had bitten the man’s thigh. hard. the bite mark digging in deep, but not reaching bone. There were two wounds, on top and on back. Deep ones, but no arteries hit, as blood flowed steadily, but gently, out.

It was definitely broken. The bite marks were just south of center, and just below them was the breaking point; the leg had snapped making about a 160 degree angle. No bones protruded. That was good at least.

His brain froze. He really had no idea what to do. He wished his father were here. His father, Emmett, was a true firewitch, and witches were trained healers. Even though Emmett had taught Yonah a great deal, healing had never been Yonah’s strong point. His potential patients were always either too small or too large for him to deal with. He couldn’t set a leg!

What this man needed a witch.

And Yonah knew just the witch for this job.

First things first, however.

For this human to survive he needed to stop the bleeding. It wasn’t the cleanest option, but it was the quickest, and that’s what he needed. Yonah breathed into his hands and rubbed them together, faster, faster, faster until smoke rose from them.

The human’s eyes grew wide, “Whatever your doing! Stop it right now or I’ll- !”

The half-firewitch full-wizard placed his each of his massive hands on the two gashes in the man’s leg. Steam rose, the fluids evaporating and the flesh sizzling as Yonah’s hands, as hot as iron pulled from a blacksmith’s forge, instantly cauterized the wounds.

The man screeched louder than ever and collapsed back into unconsciousness.

Yonah removed his hands before the cauterizing turned into 3rd degree burns. Now at least he wouldn’t bleed out. He got up and walked over to his mirror, and placed his hand on the gold coated brass frame.

He looked as bad as he felt. There was still blood on his face, dripping from his mouth, and more on his robe, mostly at the knees. He was sweating and his face was scarlet.

“Mirror mirror with gold filigree, it is Myran the Witch I wish to see ”

Rhyming was annoying, if you didn’t have a good enough rhyme, a rhyme managed to state what you wanted clear enough, the mirror wouldn’t know what to do. Yonah wanted to eat the one who decided that mirrors worked with rhymes.

The mirror went cloudy and then resolved to show the interior of a witch hut, and soon a witch appeared. They had a round tan face with kind dark green eyes and light brown hair. Their hair, along with their ornately braided beard, was decorated with oversized buttons and beads. It wasn’t unheard of for Dwarves to take up witchery, but it was certainly rare. They looked down with surprise and horror.

“Yonah! Why so small, is that blood!?” they exclaimed.

“Myran, are you nearby?” he asked.

“I- yes, northwest at the moment.”

“I’ll be there, five minutes, there’s been, an incident,” He couldn’t tell her, not over mirror.

“Hey, it will be alright, and you can tell me more when you get here, see you soon.”

The mirror went grey again and then back to a normal mirror, showing his face, even redder than before. A faint glow emanated from his scalp.

He had to focus up! He hopped off the desk, returning to normal size. Before doing anything he washed his hands and face. Then he made his first attempt to pick up the human. Nope, he couldn’t just do that. He needed to be able to transport him more in something more stiff and stable than his hands. So he got a box and lined it with cloth. Taking each corner of the improvised towel that the human lay on, he lifted the human up and then down into the box.

With the human secure he took the box under his arm and climbed out the window. Normally he would jump down, but that might bounce the human too violently. With one hand he held onto the windowsill, and hung over the edge. With his other arm he gripped the side of the tower. The box he held under his chin. Then he was able to climb down. Awkwardly, but successfully.

Before running into the woods he opened the box. Still alive. The thief looked rather peaceful, if not for the now charred angry red wounds and the badly broken femur.

With the box in his hands he headed into the woods behind the tower.

It took less than the five minutes to get to the hut.

Myran’s hut was extremely quiant. Made of polished stones mined by their many relatives who might not understand the choice to be a witch, but wanted to be supportive. The sides were overgrown with all sorts of flora. So small was the hut (on the outside at least) that Yonah was taller than it, even when shrunk. But he wasn’t shrunk right now. And Myran was standing outside the door, next to them was their cat Sivivon. Siv was mostly black except for white stripes above his eyes making it look like he had eyebrows.

“Yonah, what happened?” they called up.

Yonah gazed down at her, his glasses fogging up as steaming, angry tears pulsed from his eyes.

“Myr- I,” he knelt down and placed the box in front of the dwarf.

They opened the box and gasped.

“Oh dear, Yonah- how”

“I fucked up!” Yonah cried, “Myran I bit him! I fucked up!”

Myran walked around the box and placed a their hands on Yonah’s which were on his knees. They looked up with kind eyes but didn’t smile, this wasn’t the time for that. Sivivon hopped up on the same hand and rubbed his face into Yonah’s knuckles.

“Everyone makes mistakes, and you did the right thing bringing him to me. We’ll fix him right up.”

Yonah sniffed “W-we?”

“For this I’m going to need your help. If you would reduce yourself, we can get to work. Actually, take him out of the box first.”

With Yonah’s help they brought the man into the hut, dragging him inside on the cloth that now reeked with blood mixed with all the other fluids. Yonah had to crawl to get through the door. But once inside he could stand up to his full reduced height. From the outside it looked like there was only one room, but there were many. Even Yonah didn’t know how many.

Right now the front door lead to the living room, which was next to the kitchen.

Myran had Yonah lift the man up onto the cleared off kitchen table. Sivivon leapt onto the windowsill to watch.

“Isn’t this… unsanitary?” Yonah asked.

“Hold on,” and they stomped their foot real hard and the room shifted, coming back together as a built exactly like the kitchen, but clean, and with the counters knives, spoons, whisks, etc were switched for more delicate tools. The table was now made of polished marble and imbedded into it were anchors for restraints.

“Just, um, sit wherever,” Myran pointed behind Yonah, where the living room still was.

He sat down on the couch and buried his face in his hands. He could still taste salt and iron, every time he breathed. He breathed through his nose. That helped. But then he was just ignoring it. Maybe he should wash his mouth out. But then he was just washing the mistake away. Out of morbid curiosity he looked up to see what Myran was doing.

They had put on an apron and very clean, thin, leather gloves. They had a measuring tape and were making notes on a floating clipboard. The quill was floating too, writing without them having to hold it. Yonah could feel the magic wrapping around the human’s leg. Then they looked over to Yonah.

“I need your assistance now, go wash up.”

“Ok,” Yonah walked over, washing his hands in the sink and then stood next to Myran. In his attempt to hold back his anger he had decided the best course of action was to be completely emotionless.

“We need to set the leg,” they started explaining as they strapped the human to the table, “It’s going to hurt, it’s going to bleed again, so be ready to stop it on my mark. He might wake up, so I need you to hold him down. The straps will keep him from falling off, but any movements can fuck me up.”

They instructed Yonah to place his arms over the man’s hips and chest, to minimize any movement of the leg.

“Are you ready? I need you to be ready,” they said, staring Yonah down, which was impressive considering they were 140 centimeters tall. They were holding onto the man’s leg right above the knee. Their sleeves were rolled up and their muscles tensed.

“Ready.” and Yonah closed his eyes as Myran pulled. There was a sickening, creaking squelch.

Jack did wake up, howling. He tried to sit up but something held him down. He couldn’t see as his vision swirled. Then whatever was on his chest lifted and he sat up. Or tried, his arms were still held down. Something or someone was leaning over his leg. Something large and colorful. Then the pain grew hotter, he smelled his own flesh burning! But he couldn’t see what was going on. The pain dulled and he stopped struggling and lay back down.

“He’s going to be ok Yonah, go lie down, I can take it from here. But don’t leave.”

“Ok.” he went back to the couch.

He couldn’t exactly lie down on it. It wasn’t long enough. Dwarf couch. So he lay with his upper body on the couch, legs sprawled on the floor. He closed his eyes, but didn’t dare fall asleep.

Jack’s head cleared as the burning in his leg subsided, replaced by gently messaging. It still stung, it still pulsed and felt like it was going to burst, but he could think again. And he was sober. That sucked.

“Glad to see you’re awake, Jack,” came a voice. It wasn’t soothing, but it was kind. He opened his eyes and tried to sit up again, and found he could. To a point, his wrists were bound to the table.

He looked down at a dwarf who was carefully applying some sort of green salve to his leg, applying it into his leg, as there were huge gouges into it, and they were burned up. The flesh around them was red and raw, the leg itself was a deep dark burgundy.

“Who- who are you? And what happened?” he said, his voice sounding far away and discordant. The dwarf wiped their hands and unlocked the restraints, not taking their eyes of Jack’s.

“Ohhhh, mentally aware already, that’s good. Please, if you would lie back down, you need to keep the leg elevated” said the dwarf, putting a hand onto his chest. He followed the instructions. A fragment of the pain returned as his leg was lifted and pillows stacked underneath. The throbbing subsided a little.

“There, Jack, isn’t that better?” The dwarf smiled with huge dimples.

“You… didn’t answer my question. And How do you know my name?”

The dwarf sighed but resisted pointing out that if he were dead, would his leg still be injured? Would he even have a body? No one knew.

“My name is Myran, I’m a witch.”

A witch!? First a giant, now a witch! This day was getting worse and worse. Somehow he had survived gotten away from the giant, injured sure, but alive. Just to run into the house of a witch. Whatever he was being rubbed with had to be a sauce of some sort, and soon the witch would shove him in some oven.

“What happened was you tried to steal from a giant. Most people who do that are named Jack. But most don’t get bitten.” They began wrapping bandages around the wounds. That stung too.

“Bitten?” he closed his eyes and tried to remember. The giant had caught him. He remembered being in it’s mouth, then there was pain, and then he was trapped somewhere warm and wet. OH gods.

“I- I was eaten! How did I escape?” try as he might he couldn’t recall anything after being eaten.

“You didn’t” said a new voice. No, not a new voice, that was-. Jack opened his eyes and nearly passed out for a third time as the figure of the giant stepped into view behind the dwarf, looming over Jack. Peering down at him through his spectacles.

“How’s my little snack doing?” he growled. Myran smirked and smacked him gently. “For someone so foolish, he sure tasted good.”

Jack sat up and punched Yonah in the face, and Yonah reeled back. Shocked by the action more than the force of the punch.

“Fuck you! How’s my fist taste!” the audacity this motherfucker had! Speaking to him like that after nearly killing him!

“You ungrateful little shit stain!” said Yonah. He could feel his head getting hot but he didn’t care. “I save your life and this is the thanks I get!”

“Save- You ate me alive!” Jack swung again but Yonah caught it. Ow! It was hot!

“And spit you back up,” Yonah hissed, barring his fangs “Alive. It was a close call; normally thieves don’t do stupid shit like pulling on a giant’s uvula and making them bite down. The blood loss would have killed you before my stomach did, but I got you out in time to stop the bleeding. You’re welcome.”

“I am not welcome! I didn’t give you any thanks!” Jack pulled his hand back, “I don’t give thanks to disgusting man-eating monsters! AHHH!”

Sparks were flying from Yonah’s hair as it flared up along with his eyes. “Don’t make me regret helping you!”

“What the fuck are you! Get the fuck away from me monster!” Jack nearly fell off the table but Myran caught him.

“Yonah, extinguish yourself!” they ordered, “or go outside!”

The trail of smoke plumed from his hair as he left the hut, slamming the door. Then Myran wheeled on Jack, with a scowl that make Jack forget they had ever smiled before. They stomped their feet and suddenly they were in a kitchen. Jack didn’t like that one bit.

“He’s not a monster you know,” they said, “Not really. An unfair classification. Also, I need that table”

“Are you sure, because he ATE ME!” why couldn’t anyone understand that?!

“That’s what giants do /Jack/,” they said, holding Jack as he gingerly slid off the table and stood on one leg “And you’re not special. He’s eaten me too, mistook me for a thief.”

“How does one mistake a witch for a thief?!”

Now they smiled again, “That’s a story for another time, but my point still stands. Giants are supposed to eat people, and they have every right when those people break into their homes. And,” they said thoughtfully “They are more merciful than dragons. You better hope he comes back, you still need his help.”

“I doubt that.” said Jack, as Myran helped him to the couch, and re-elevated his leg. The cat on the window sauntered over and leapt onto his chest, curling up.

“Do you know much about healing magic, Jack?” they said as they got out their largest black cauldron and placed it in the kitchen hearth.

“I don’t know jack shit.”

“I thought so. And don’t use your name as a swear word, not good for self confidence” they started poured jars of chicken and beef stock into the cauldron and lit the fire.

“Healing magic takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of magic, and it’s hell on your body.” they started to explain.

“The healing process, it… how do I explain this. It doesn’t heal directly. What I can do is speed up and direct your body’s natural recovery abilities. It’s already started the process, at the normal slow rate, and it hurts doesn’t it? Your leg is red and hot as your body works to repair itself. Imagine the pain and heat from speeding that up.” They were opening up cupboards and frowning.

“Uh,” Jack tried to imagine. He couldn’t.

“So, you need a day after a healing session to recover and cool off. And I need a day to recharge my magic. I’d spend a day healing you, a small amount, and then the next day gathering more magic. Repeat for an entire month. That’s how long with will take without Yonah’s help. That’s his name by the way, not monster, not man-eater. Yonah can generate more magic than I can, a great deal more. He can also absorb all the excess energy your body creates so you don’t burn from the inside out. With his help I can heal you in a day.”

They brought over a mug and jug of water

“I’d rather take the month.” Jack drank gratefully.

Strong dwarf hands grasped his shirt and pulled him to and angry bearded face. He spit up some of the water. The cat dug its claws into his shirt to stay in place. Tears came to his eyes as pain pulsed up and down from his leg.

“That’s not an option for you.”

“But you just said-”

“The only reason I’m helping you at all is because Yonah asked. He’s my friend, you’re not. I don’t know you, and so far I don’t like you. I’m not a charity, I don’t do major healing at massive cost of material just for fun, and I’m not going to drain myself babysitting you for an entire fucking month!” They released his shirt but gave him an ultimatum.

“Either Yonah helps or I amputate you’re leg and you’ll leave in a few days to limp away into the woods and get eaten by something else, something that won’t be so merciful!”

There was silence, except for the cat purring, as Jack considered.

“I don’t really want the help of someone who not so long ago was having me as a meal.” he said, calmly, coldly.

“He wasn’t! He was always going to let you live, but thanks to the bite, it’s taking more effort.”

The ground shook and there was a knocking at the door. “He’s back, behave yourself.”

“I make no promises.”

n

Myran opened the door to see a large foot. Guess he didn’t mean to come back inside. They gave Jack one more glare.

“Watch him for me Siv,” they said. The cat meowed and kneaded Jack’s chest. They stepped outside and shut the door.

Yonah’s hair was still smoking gently, but otherwise he had seemed to calm down. He sat down and held out his hand, Myran stepped on and Yonah stood up and held them in his lap.

“I’m going back to my tower,” said Yonah, “I can tell when my help isn’t wanted, or deserved.”

“20 minutes ago you thought he deserved it,”

“20 minutes ago I didn’t realize what an inconsiderate jerk he was.”

“You’re also an inconsiderate jerk!”

“I’m a firewitch, what’s his excuse?”

“Part firewitch” they reminded him “and I don’t know, maybe he got eaten by a giant today? It’s not a great experience, I should know. He’s scared half to death and your stellar firewitch personality doesn’t help. You can be really frightening,” they said, “That wasn’t a compliment!”

Yonah had smiled, but his face fell again, “He scared me too you know. I’ve eaten dozens of thieves, and never once hurt them, not while I ate them.” sometimes thieves got injured during the chase, but he didn’t eat those thieves.

“Just, think about it? 20 minutes ago you were crying at my door!” 

The pair sat in silence for a few minutes. Myran let him play with their beard braids. Finally Yonah took a deep breath.

“Ok, yes, I still want to help,” he said “but I’m not apologizing!”

“I knew it,” said Myran, “but it’s getting late now, the heal will have to be tomorrow. You think you can sleep here tonight? You know, just in case.”

“Oh, yeah sure, but I’ll need to get a blanket.”

With the forest moving all the time there was always the chance that Yonah’s tower and Myran’s hut would be moved further than 3 kilometers apart in a reshuffle. If that happened he wouldn’t be able to come back. King Benyamin had engineered a rather nasty spell that shocked him, paralyzed him, and threw him back if he took even one step farther from his tower than the 3km limit. If he stayed by the hut, it would be anchored to him and the spell wouldn’t allow it to move.

“That’s fine, I need some things from your tower too.”

“Like what?”

“Meats and root vegetables. I don’t have enough for a heal like this, oh and while you’re at it…”

They ended up giving Yonah a list. There were several magical components that they had been meaning to ask Yonah for.

“Ok, see you soon,” they pat Yonah on the cheek and he set them back on the ground.

The footsteps faded away and Jack relaxed considerably. Not completely, the giant would be back. But just with that amount of relief, Jack fell asleep before Myran even opened the door.

When he awoke the witch and the giant sitting at the kitchen table. Well, Myran was, The giant. The wizard? Yonah, was kneeling, which looked a little ridiculous. He was wearing new robes, ones that weren’t blood stained, but were dusted with flour. In addition to the cauldron in the hearth, there were now two pots boiling jovially on the kitchen stove. Everything smelled amazingly of spiced meats and roasted veggies. Though there was a much more sharp sour smell as well.

He looked at Yonah, who looked back. There was no kindness there. Guilt, but not kindness.

“You’ve got impeccable timing” said Myran, “dinner’s ready.”

From the larger pot they ladled out generous helpings of soup into three bowls, two small, one large. One of which they brought to Jack and placed a small table over his chest, and then the bowl upon it along with two large slices a dense brown bread full of nuts and dried fruits. Whatever the source of the sour smell was, it wasn’t in this dish. 

The larger bowl they handed to the Yonah

“Thanks, but, I’m not-”

“It’s not a good sign when a cook won’t eat the food he spent so much time preparing. Also we need your magic” Myran ordered.

Jack, who was just about to take a bite, paused. The giant had made this? He was being served food made by the thing that wanted to eat him? Was that just ironic or was it fucked up. Jack’s stomach made the decision for him and he sipped nervously at the soup. Ah shit, it was really good. He started to eat at a steadier pace.

“You know this isn’t enough food for that,” Yonah said, as he dipped the bread into the soup and took a bite “I did a good job. Of course” and he winked at Jack which Jack did not like at all, “Not as good as Jack over there.”

“So then you’ll have more later,” they said, digging into their own bowl, seeming not to have noticed Yonah’s remark. 

“Is that what the cauldron is for?” Jack asked, attempting to make conversation, and hoping.

“Oh no, It’s for you,” they both said.

Soup shot out of Jacks nose, his bowl fell to the floor, and he cried out in pain as the realization dawned on him. His worst fears confirmed.

“I knew it, you are fattening me up! He’s going to eat me again!”

“Yes,” said Yonah, who looked at him and licked his lips. 

“NO!” Myran slapped him, “Stop being an ass!”

They groaned and looked at the ceiling. Then walked over to Jack with a rag and helped clean him up, refilling his bowl of soup. Siv yowled as he was pushed aside, having ran over to partake in the spilled food.

“Ok, I’ll try to explain it again” they said “I’m not magically restoring your leg, that’s not possible. Not without help from the gods”

“And they tend to be pretty fickle,” said Yonah.

“What I can do, what I’m going to do, is force your metabolism and your body’s own healing process into overdrive, and enhance it. 6 months of healing into one day, plus stimulation of new tissue growth to fill those rather canyon-esq gashes in your legs. I did the calculations, Yonah confirmed them. We need a week’s worth of food to repair the leg, and another 2 weeks to compensate for energy consumption by the rest of your body.”

Jack was giving them another blank look.

“If you though that being eaten by me was bad, imagine your own body eating itself,” Yonah translated, “That’s what will happen if we don’t supply your body with enough material.”

That, sort of made sense. Jack didn’t know enough about biology to dispute it.

The rest of dinner managed to be relatively civil. Yonah grumbled about washing the dishes by hand. Why would one take the time when you had magic? But Myran was insistent. If one got used to just magicking messes away, one tended to not clean up at all, until they were living in their own filth.

The smaller pot on the stove went untouched, and even as they prepared for bed, it sat there, simmering gently. It was the source of the mild tangy smell. Jack hoped it wouldn’t distract him from sleep. Once everything was cleaned, and Jack’s pillow’s fluffed, they all went to bed. The wizard left the hut, but it was clear from the mild trembling of the building he had returned to his giant size and was sleeping against the hut. That made Jack nervous but at least the giant was out of site. Just, not out of mind.

And certainly not out of mind when a few hours later, the giant was violently shaking him awake. He was human sized but in the dark his eyes had a faint glow to them. Jack’s heart stopped.

—

GRAH! Yonah couldn’t sleep and it was pissing him off! He tossed and turned as best he could without disturbing the hut too much. Thankfully it had strong dwarven foundations. But he couldn’t stop thinking about Jack. Why!? He didn’t want to eat him anymore. Not much. He wasn’t even hungry, he had made sure to eat something substantial than a small portion of soup before attempting to sleep. Something was bothering him.

Fuck. He stared up into the canopy and dragged his hands down his face as he realized what it was. And he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep until it was resolved.

He sat up, he was still in his day robes, not having anywhere to change into a nightgown. He took a pinch of powder to shrink down and entered Myran’s hut, slowly as to not make any noise.

There was a small amount of light, from the dim fire in the heart with the large black cauldron still simmering away. Jack was on the couch, deep asleep, but not sound asleep. The kind of asleep one gets when one’s body is still in a lot of pain but so exhausted and weak that their body shuts down enough to sleep. And because his ass and legs were propped up on pillows, an odd angle at which to sleep, he nearly made a V with is body. It certainly didn’t look comfortable. 

Yonah knelt down next to Jack, and nearly gagged. The poultice and wrappings that Myran had applied earlier was keeping it from infection but this close it smelled horrible. Some non-reactive herbs were added to offset the smell but weren’t helping much. While the bandages hid the wound it still existed. The bone was still broken even if it was now set. And it was his fault. If he didn’t do this now, he probably never would. And he would regret it.

Very softly, he tapped Jack on the shoulder. Jack didn’t wake so he very very lightly grasped Jack’s shoulder and very very very gently shook it.

It took Jack a few seconds to wake and when it was clear he was about to scream Yonah put a hand over Jack’s mouth. Jack tried to force Yonah away but he was too weak and it hurt to move.

Jack still tried and nearly fell off the couch! Yonah stopped him with his other hand. Sometimes being large even when human sized was incredibly useful.

“Shh! We don’t want to wake up Myran,” said Yonah. From the petrified glare he gave him Jack very much wanted to wake Myran.

“Don’t yell when I remove my hand,” Yonah ordered. Jack narrowed his eyes. “Please?” He added. From beneath his hand Yonah felt the slight nod. And he removed his hand, but placed it on Jack’s arm. Jack took a deep breath.

“If you’re here to eat me just get it over with” Jack hissed, “end this stupid charade of pretending to help me!”

The glow of Yonah’s eyes grew brighter for a moment as he scowled. Jack couldn’t still think he was going to eat him right? Didn’t matter, he wasn’t going to wait any longer. No side tracking!

“I’m,” fucking hell this was hard, “I’m sorry I bit you.”

Jacks eyes went wide and then narrowed again.

“That’s all?” He spat.

“What?”

“Sorry for biting me? You fucking swallowed me whole!”

Yonah was impressed that was Jack staying quiet. Jack hadn’t formally promised to do so.

“I’m not sorry for that,” he wasn’t going to lie, “you broke into my house. And I caught you. I eat every thief that I catch; I’m supposed to. I don’t have to let them go, but I do. Many giants do.”

“That’s a bold faced lie,” Jack gave him a dirty look “I’ve never heard of giants letting thieves go! And you have the nerve to claim it’s common.”

Yonah sat back, but didn’t let go of Jack.

“Ok. Let’s assume that we’re really going to fix you up like we’ve been telling you. You go home. Yes?”

Jack nodded, confused.

“Everyone asks what happened to you. Do you tell the /grand/ tale of how you got caught immediately and then you did something stupid in an attempt to not get eaten which made the fearsome half-giant, yeah im not even a full giant, how pathetic. The half-giant almost bite your leg off as it succeeded in eating you? But gosh you lucked out and this giant took pity on you and not only spit you back up but took you to a witch to be healed!? ” Yonah took a breath, “or are you going to, oh I don’t know, expound upon how you were smart and waited until I went to bed, but as you were leaving I awoke and chased you, nearly catching you but you were too quick for me and got away?”

Jack stared at him blankly.

“They lie, Jack. People don’t want talk about how they failed and got eaten! It makes them look weak and foolish. They tell much more impressive stories of how they outwitted the giant, or incapacitated them and escaped their clutches!”

Jack took a moment to process this. He seemed to understand the reasoning. Then his expression hardened.

“Well I don’t accept your apology!” The giant had had all day to apologize. He had waited too long. Maybe if he had said something during dinner, but now Jack wasn’t in a forgiving mood.

Yonah could feel his hair trying to ignite but he fought it. He did see some orange deflect in Jack’s eyes. That of his own eyes. Jack still squeaked out in pain as Yonah’s hands became hot and Yonah let go.

“Listen, Jack, I’m trying to be —” no he would NOT say THE LINE(™)! NO! But if he didn’t then he would just be stuck mid sentence! DAMMIT!!! He was already committed and it was too late!

“—The bigger… person.”

Jack snorted. Then laughed. Then winced in pain.

For a moment Yonah was worried his head was going to light up but his face was merely red hot from embarrassment. Then he laughed too. It was unspoken, and Jack may not have forgiven him, but he did accept the apology.

“Finally!”

They both turned their heads but in the darkness they couldn’t actually see Myran standing in the doorway that currently led to their bedroom.

“I was worried the distrust between you two would fuck up the healing tomorrow so thank the forest god y’all came to an understanding.”

Siv jumped on their head and his round eyes glinted in the darkness. He meowed.

“You’re right Siv. Rest is just as important as trust! Goodnight, again.”

—

Morning finally came and it was time to get Jack healed up and sent home. That was easier said than done.

While Jack now trusted Yonah not to eat him, he was still wary. Not too wary to thank Yonah for preparing breakfast. Shakshouka. Jack had never had that. Eggs poached in a savory tomato vegetable stew didn’t seem like a breakfast item to Jack, but lord was it good. He felt invigorated eating it.

He felt less so once they began setting up.

Just to be safe, he had to be strapped to the table again, but this time an apparatus was hooked up to it and Jack tried to back out when he found out what it was for.

A big jug was suspended above a funnel, which was attached to a tube. Which was going to be stuck up his nose and down his throat. The jug contained the stew the witch and wizard had started to prepare last night and had aliquoted into several jugs this morning. The contents had completely liquified in the long night, and it was now a thick disgusting slurry. And it was going to be force fed to him throughout the procedure.

“We can’t risk you choking trying to feed yourself,” Myran had explained. “This way we have as steady and reliable supply of food as possible.”

Jack couldn’t respond as they stuck a stick wrapped in an alcohol soaked rag into his mouth for him to bite on. They said they were going to make this as painless as possible, but it was still going to hurt.

Finally they were ready to start. Myran knelt down on a cushioned stool by the table. Yonah stood next to them, one hand on Jack’s middle, the other on Myran’s shoulder. He was also poised to release the nutrient slurry on Myran’s signal.

Then she applied the darkest bitter smelling honey either Jack or Yonah had ever seen around the area of the break and crushed some egg shells over it. Dragon egg shells, Yonah noted, which sank into the darkness.

“Bone first, then flesh,” They looked up to Yonah, nodding.

Yonah focused and started to transfer some of his own magic into Myran. He had to be careful, too much and they would combust.

Myran started muttering.

This was why he was strapped down. The shells felt like they were a thousand daggers digging into his leg and Jack instinctively tried to sit up and run. Yonah gave him a reassuring glance. And then pulled the string that released the stew and Jack had to fight the urge to gag as the hot liquid flowed down his gullet.

Immediately Yonah returned his hand to Jack’s chest. As Jack’s leg pulsed and stung Jack felt like his blood was about to boil. His body working hard to regenerate the bone and spreading the excess energy to the rest of his body. But there was only so much heat his own body could take. He was becoming feverish.

Yonah frowned. He was supplying Myran with magic, but splitting his attention to pull the heat from Jack was proving difficult. His body wouldn’t accept it! Why not!? It was heat!

Maybe if…

Yonah closed his eyes and on purpose got his hair to start smoldering.

With his magic being sent into Myran there wasn’t enough left for his own fire, so it gladly accepted the new source of heat. It greedily sucked it out of Jack. To avoid causing hypothermia, Yonah simply removed his hand from Jack periodically.

Soon they had a rhythm going: Myran keeping steady healing magic and directing the bone growth, Yonah alternating between feeding Jack, siphoning heat, and recharging Myran before they ran out of magic.

After an hour it was done and All the honey was gone from his leg. Myran used a little metal rod with a marble on the end to tap the leg, satisfied it was no longer broken, and stumbled away to fall on the couch. They had never channeled that much magic before, it was like they had ran a marathon, and they were about to do it again.

Yonah felt fine, just a little fuzzy in the head.

Jack was drenched in sweat and was flushed. He spat out the stick and looked up at Yonah with a pleading in his eyes.

Yonah knew what Jack wanted but shook his head.

“If we remove the tube now we’ll just have to go through putting it back again.” Yonah replaced the now empty jug with a second one.

Jack groaned, closing his eyes and putting his head down in defeat. This sucked. A lot.

“Fuck” he managed to say.

After a power nap and a strong cup of coffee Myran was ready to go for round 2. It was time to seal the wounds.

Myran disappeared for a second and returned holding the small pot from that had been sitting on the kitchen stove since yesterday and blew on it with magic to cool it down quickly. They set it down next to Jack’s leg, and took their position. Yonah as well. They removed Jack’s bandages and cleaned off the stinking poultice. It stung, a lot.

But it was nothing compared to the burning of the cold dark, sharp smelling purple sludge that they poured over his leg, covering it in a shining shell. He yelled. Yonah quickly placed the stick back in Jack’s mouth and he gratefully bit down.

The witch stuck their hands into the sludge, touching the edges of the wounds, and muttered new words. Yonah began channeling the magic again. The sludge bubbled, starting out slow but becoming a boil.

Half an hour into the heal Yonah’s hair burst into flames with the amount of energy he had to take from Jack. The flesh was growing anew, replacing the chunks that were torn off. It was as if time was passing faster for Jack, and every bit of energy that Jack produced was sucked up by Yonah. The flare up startled Myran, they had never seen Yonah’s hair actually become fire, yet they didn’t lose focus.

At the one hour mark there was a new problem.

He was running out of magic. He could feel it. His breathing was shallow, his eyes were drooping, all he wanted was to sleep on the spot. There was a reason heals were done over a period of weeks, and this was it. They had thought Yonah could generate enough but he was not a true firewitch!

As the flames grew higher Yonah had an epiphany. He forced his hair to stop. Stop expelling the heat and to convert it back into magic.

It extinguished immediately, and Yonah’s heart beat fast and strong and he was wide awake as the magic surged through him and he released it into Myran who jolted with surprise but smiled.

Now that Yonah was doing only one thing it was much easier. Take energy from Jack, return it to Myran as magic, who applied it to the wound which created more heat. A smooth cycle. Sometimes interrupted to administer more soup. And briefly to exchange the jug for the third and final one.

One more hour passed.

Both Myran and Yonah collapsed as the spell was complete. The sour sludge evaporated off Jack’s leg revealing it to be whole, but still with huge raw scars in the shape of a bite mark.

Yonah was the first to recover and got up to free Jack of his bonds and remove the feeding tube.

Jack lept from the table. He felt great! He felt amazing! He jumped up and down on his new leg! He hugged Yonah!

Yonah tensed. He half expected Jack to run as soon as he could, and certainly to get away from him. Not embrace him.

Jack realized it too and broke away, cowering a bit.

“Do you believe us now?” Yonah said, smiling.

Jack relaxed, and nodded.

—

They were outside Myran’s hut. Jack had been given a brand new pair of pants, but had requested they be cut into shorts, he wanted to show off his scar to everyone he passed. After embracing the witch and wizard one final time he turned around and strutted into the forest, in the direction of the nearest road.

Then he heard footsteps behind him.

He froze as the now familiar massive hand of the shrunken half-giant half-firewitch wizard was placed on his shoulder. Jack let himself be turned back around. The wizard was giving him a serious stare down which Jack lost. Had he done something wrong? Has the wizard changed his mind about eating him again!? He braced himself for the worst.

“Listen, Jack, you really don’t deserve this but if I don’t you’ll probably just go find another giant to steal from. So here,” Yonah produced a small pouch of coins from a pocket and tossed it to Jack whose eyes went wide.

“Thanks,” said Jack, “I’ll just be going now.”

“Please do,” said Yonah, and Jack ran off.

“I promise to tell a good story!” he yelled back as Myran and Yonah watched him disappear into the woods.

“Hey?” Myran walked up to Yonah gazed up at him.

“Yes?”

“You don’t, by any chance, also want to eat me again?” they laughed and slapped him on the stomach. Not too gently either. It stung.

His heart skipped a beat but he recovered quickly.

“Dwarves don’t taste as good as humans,” he said, “Still… I’d be lying if I said no. Why? Are you offering?” He smiled in as threatening a manner as he could muster against his friend, who was completely unphased.

He couldn’t actually imagine anyone wanting to be eaten, even if they knew they would be alright. That was ridiculous! Didn’t mean he couldn’t play along with getting teased.

“HA!” they let out a big laugh that scared some of the nearby birds, “I knew it! And don’t get your hopes up. Once was more than enough for me.”

They headed back into their hut, but Yonah just stood in a stunned silence outside.

“And Yonah!” they called out, beckoning him inside.

Yonah sighed “Yes?” he stood up.

“Do try not to bite anymore thieves,” Myran handed him a mop and bucket.

Oh yeah, the place was still a mess. Myran had a rag and feather duster in their hands. They looked at Yonah’s mop and back to their duster. They switched implements. This was a prime opportunity to dust in places they couldn’t otherwise reach.

“I’ll certainly try my best,” he said.

[FIN]

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment!


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